Crow's mentor Simon Cowell and fellow judge Paula Abdul had chosen to save her over Canty, but Canty's mentor LA Reid chose to save him, as did fourth judge Nicole Scherzinger, who voted last. Her decision caused the results to go to deadlock, with Crow being sent home after it was revealed she had received the least public votes.

Crow dissolved into tears on stage after the result was announced, while Scherzinger had to be comforted by Abdul when she also began to cry. Scherzinger was later booed by the audience when host Steve Jones asked for her thoughts on the result.

Writing on her Twitter account after the show, Crow said: "Thank u so much to all of my fans I love you so much. I am sad tonight but I will bounce back and be fine tomorrow :)

"Please don't be angry with @nicolesherzy she was put in such a tough position. I love u all so much... I am so thankful to have such amazing fans thank u for sticking by me. I love u with all my heart. (sic)"

In an interview with the X Factor website, Crow said that she spoke with Scherzinger following the elimination: "She was crying really hard. I told her it will be okay. She was crying buckets still an hour after the show.

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"I was really sad like, 'Why are you crying? It will be fine'. She said, 'I didn't mean to send you home...' I was like, 'It's okay. It was meant to be. God did this for me'."

The teenager also revealed that some of her fellow contestants were equally upset about her departure: "[Marcus] was kind of sad and I was like, 'Why are you sad, boy? You should be celebrating!' Melanie was crying so hard, like me last week when Drew went home. I told her to stop crying and it will be fine."

Crow had told the audience after her exit: "I love you so much everybody for voting me... Thank you for giving me this because without you I am nothing.

"I hope this is not my ending. You know what, I know it's not. I will go so far, I promise you. I love you. And to my family, you are amazing and made so many sacrifices for me."